The present invention relates to a new tape cassette, and particularly to a tape cassette including a front lid which is closed to cover the front side of a tape-like recording medium in a non-loading state of the tape cassette in a tape drive apparatus and is opened to expose the front side of the recording medium in a loading state of the tape cassette in the tape drive apparatus, wherein an unnecessary force is not applied to the tape drive apparatus even in the loading state of the tape cassette in the tape drive apparatus, whereby the cassette loading state can be stably held.
Along with a tendency toward higher recording density, tape cassettes have been required to prevent adhesion of dust on a tape-like recording medium and also adhesion of grease on the recording medium due to the contact of operator""s fingers therewith, and to meet such a requirement, there has been disclosed a technique in which a portion, exposed from a shell of a tape cassette, of the recording medium is covered with a front lid in a non-loading state of the cassette in a tape drive apparatus.
According to the above technique, the front side of the recording medium crossing the front side of a mouth portion, which is provided in a front portion of the cassette shell in such a manner as to be opened forwardly, upwardly, and downwardly, is covered with a front lid in the non-loading state of the cassette, and is exposed to the outside by turning the front lid upwardly at approximately 90xc2x0 in the loading state of the cassette.
In this tape cassette of the type having the front lid, to prevent the front lid in the closed state from being carelessly opened, lock means for holding the closed state of the front lid is provided.
On the other hand, a tape drive apparatus has operating means (such as an operating piece or operating arm) for operating the lock means when the cassette is mounted in the tape drive apparatus. When the cassette is mounted in the tape drive apparatus, the operating means acts to move the lock means in the unlocking direction against a biasing force of biasing means provided to bias the lock means, to release the locking state of the front lid, thereby opening the front lid.
The above tape cassette of the type having the front lid, however, has a problem that when the cassette is mounted in the tape drive apparatus, a reaction force against the biasing force of the biasing means provided to bias the lock means is applied to the cassette in the direction of floating the cassette upwardly from the tape drive apparatus.
On the other hand, when being mounted in the tape drive apparatus, the tape cassette must be certainly positioned thereto. For this purpose, the tape drive apparatus has pressing means for pressing the upper surface of the cassette mounted in the tape drive apparatus. The above-described floating of the cassette from the tape drive apparatus can be somewhat suppressed by the pressing means.
The pressing means, however, has been required to be made as small as possible for realizing the miniaturization and lightweightness of the tape drive apparatus. Accordingly, it may be desirable to prevent the reaction force against the biasing force of the biasing means provided to bias the lock means from being applied to the tape cassette.
An object of the present invention is to provide a tape cassette, which is intended to be stably mounted in a tape drive apparatus, and also to reduce the size and weight of the tape drive apparatus.
To achieve the above object, according to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a tape cassette including: a cassette shell in which two tape reels are rotatably contained; a front lid, turnably supported by the cassette shell, for opening/closing the front side of a tape-like recording medium crossing a front portion of a mouth portion provided in a front portion of the cassette shell in such a manner as to be opened forwardly, upwardly, and downwardly; and a lid lock member for locking the front lid in the closed state to the cassette shell; wherein the locking of the front lid by the lid lock member is released when the tape cassette is mounted in a tape drive apparatus; the lid lock member is biased in the locking direction by biasing means; and the lid lock member is engaged with and held by a tape cassette side member in the unlocking state.
With this configuration, since the lid lock member in the unlocking state is engaged with a tape cassette side member, the lid lock member in the unlocking state is not brought into contact with a tape drive apparatus side member in the state in which the tape cassette is mounted in the tape drive apparatus. Accordingly, the tape cassette does not receive, in the unlocking state, a reaction force against a biasing force of the biasing means provided to bias the lid lock member, and thereby the cassette does not float upwardly from the tape drive apparatus, and further, since the pressing means provided on the tape drive apparatus side for pressing the cassette can be made smaller, the size and weight of the tape drive apparatus can be reduced.
In the above tape cassette, preferably, the lid lock member is turnably supported on the inner surface of a side surface portion of the front lid; a lock pin is provided on the lid lock member in such a manner as to project therefrom; and the unlocking state of the front lid is held by the lock pin caught in a recess formed in the side surface portion of the front lid.
With this configuration, even if the front lid is rotated to be opened, the lid lock member and the biasing means are not exposed to the outside, and accordingly, it is possible to prevent the lid lock member and the biasing means from being touched with operator""s fingers or from being removed, and also to enhance the external appearance of the tape cassette.